Popish Glorying in Antiquity Turned to their Shame, Chapter 9

Popish Glorying in Antiquity Turned to their Shame · Chapter 9

p. 181CHAP. IX. How the Romanists alleadge the Fathers for them, in one place and poynt of Doctrine; and at their pleasure reject them in another, when they can neyther alleadge them to bee corrupt, nor counterfeyt.

FOR PROBATION heere-of,Bell. lib. 2. de Euch. c. 24. first, Bellarmine adduceth S. Augustine for him, to proue their sore of Reall Presence in the Sacrament▪ but with a nore of Ignorance he rejecteth him,Bell. …. 1. de po…. …. 10. §. … Aug. where he expoundeth by the Rocke, whereon the Church is builded, that Christ onelie meaned, (revoking anie other Exposition that he had made of the same.) And when wee adduce, out of his p. 182booke, De moribus Ecclesiae, (which they oft cite) Testimonies against their worshipping of Reliques, Bellarmine rejecteth the same,Bell. lib. …. de sanct. c. 16 §. … tertis. with this answere, Scripsit librum binc in primordiis conversionis suae: that is, He wrote that booke in the beginning of his Conversion. Which Answere, how little it is to the purpose, anie Man may see, seeing wee finde no-wise, that ever hee retreated the same.

Bell. lib. 2. de Euchar. c. 22.Like-wise, hee citeth Chrysostome, for the same manner of Reall Presence: but vvhen hee is cited, to prooue, that the Virgine Marie was conceived in originall Sinne, because shee actuallie offended;Tolet in Ioh. 2. annet. 5.John 2 Tolet rejecteth Saynct Chrysostome, and sayeth, That heere-in hee is not to bee allowed.

Bell. lib. 2. de Euch, c. 5.In like manner, Bellarmine adduceth Cyprian, for the same point yet, of Reall Presence: but hee rejecteth him flatlie, when he maketh against Traditions,L. …. de verbe, c. 11. § prosert. saying, That hee wrote that, when hee would defende his Errour against the Romane Church.

p. 183Sainct Ierome also is brought foorth,L. 2. de Euch. c. 23. as a Patron of the same Reall Presence: but is roundlie rejected in the point of Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie,L. 1. de pont. c. 8. §. Resp. saying, that hee maintained a verie false Opinion.

More-over, Ireneus is cited by Bellarmine, L. 2. de Euch. …. 6.for the same preceeding point: but is rejected, in his Exposition of the Number of the Beast's Name,L. 3. de pont. c. 10. §. haec. that it is Lateinus.

Lactantius, like-wise, as a most ancient Father,L. 4. de penit. c. 9. is adduced by Bellarmine, to prooue Popish Satisfaction: but is rejected roughlie, with this Dittie, when he maketh against him, as in the matter of Images, &c.L. 1. de sanct. c. 5. § habemus. Lactantius (sayeth hee) fell in manie Errours.

Againe, through all his Controversies, Origen is cited by Bellarmine, for speciall Confirmation,L. 2. de men, c. 11. L. 1. de Christa c. 10. as of Monasticall life, workes of Supererogation, and such like: but when in the matter of Traditions, or other pointes, hee is opposed, then hee is rejected, as one (saieth p. 184Bellarmine) of no Authoritie.…. lib. 4. de verbo cap. 11. sect. item. L. 2. de purg. c 8. sect. septimum. Yea, more-over, hee showeth, where hee was seene in Hell, with Arrius, and Nestorius.

Like-wise, Prudentius is adduced by Bellarmine, L. 2. de confir. c. 6.for Popish Confirmation, Pilgrymage, and vowing to Sainctes,L. 2. de sanct. c. 8. & 9. &c. But when he maketh against him, hee is rejected roundlie, saying,L. 2. de purg. c. 18 sect. ad secundum. More poetico lusisse Prudentium: that is, That Prudentius playeth him-selfe, after a poeticall manner.

When Ruffinus also seemeth to make for Adoration of Reliques, he is cited by Bellarmine, L. 2. de sanct. c. 3.as a most ancient and Reverende Father. But when hee clearlie maketh against the Pope's Supremacie, hee is verie vnmannerlie rejected,L. 2. de pont. c. 13. sect. observandum. as one that is false, and vntrue.

In like manner, Theophylact is frequentlie cited by Bellarmine, as for Monasticall lyfe,L. 2. de …. c. 26. L. 1. de pont. c. 25. and Papall Supremacie: but is rejected thus, whē hee maketh against him, saying, That hee lived in the time of a Schisme;L. 2. de Christ… c. 26. sect. sex…o. and therefore his authoritie p. 185is not worthie to bee received.

Enthymius, like-wise, is cited by Bellarmine, L. 1. de Christ… c. 6. L. 1. de sanct. c. 4. sect. hab… mus.as one of great authoritie, when hee maketh for him: but is thus casten at his heeles, when hee maketh against him, saying, Nō est adeo à nobis magnifaciendus: that is, Hee is not much to bee esteemed by vsus.

Thus may it truelie bee spoken of the Romanistes, vvhichwhich Anastasius Sinaita Patriarch of Antioch, reporteth of the Hereticke Severus, in his booke written against the Severians: to wit, Even as hee had beene the Iudge of the quicke and the dead, hee so vsed, at his pleasure, the Fathers of the Church: receiving vvhome hee pleased, and rejecting in them what-so-ever hee listed. And that this same is done now, by our Adversaries, the preceeding Examples doe evidentlie show.

p. 186AN APPENDIX. Of the Romanistes, their other shamelesse and fraudulent forme of Answeres, to cleare Testimonies of Fathers, objected against them.

1. By giving a Sence, cleare contrarie to their wordes.

EXamples heere-of, we hauehave in that Directorie of the Duay Seminarie,Inde… …purg. tit. Bertramus. where they ordaine, in the booke of that auncient Bertram, not onlie, Invisibiliter, to bee put for, Visibiliter: but thereafter, that the words, Secundum creaturarum substantiam: that is, According to the substance of the Creatures; shall bee expounded, Secundum externas species Sacramenti: that is, According to the externall qualities, or accidents, of the Sacramēt.

No lesse absurdlie, like-wise, doeth Bellarmine affirme, That by the substance of the Elementes, p. 187vvhichwhich Theodoret avoweth to remaine still, as they were before, after Consecration; that he meaneth, not onelie bare Accidentes to remaine, but the nature onlie of Accidents to abide, saying, While Theodoret affirmeth (saieth hee) that the substance of the Elements abideth,B…ll. lib. 2. de Euch. cap. 27. sect. s…d. and is not changed, hee speaketh of the Essence and Nature of the Accidentes.

But a most pregnant Example of anie which wee hauehave of late, is that, which is in the Compende of Becanus Manuell,Becani epit. manual. c. 8. sect. de communione sub vr…a que specie. conclu…. 3. a Iesuit: who aunswering to those wordes of Chrysostome, which are so cleare against the Popish Mutilation of the Sacrament, to wit, Omnibus unus Panis proponitur, & unum Poculum: that is, To all men who-soever, one Bread is offered, and one Cup together; Becanus answereth, That by the Cup, the Cup is not meaned, but the Blood, which by concomitance is the Bodie, and which after that manner the Laicks receiue. Whereas p. 188the holy Father, Chrysostome, could not hauehave meaned by the Cup, the blood in the bodie: seeing by the contrarie, the Cup is ever called, (and that by Christ Him-selfe) The blood that is shed, and powred out of the bodie: neyther could hee possiblie more clearlie hauehave spoken, distinguishing betweene the Bread and the Cup, and declaring, that vnderunder both kindes, Eating and Drinking, the people of olde did duelie communicate.

2. How they answere, by tempering the words of the Fathers.

OF this fraudfull Shift, by tempering (as they call it) the wordes of the Fathers, to play to their Tune, wee hauehave a notable Example, in our fore-saide Bellarmine:Bell. l. …. de p… nit. c. 16. sect. hac. vvho treating of the Irremissiblenesse of the Sinne against the Holie Ghost, and that it is helde to bee absolutelie such, he saieth, This appeareth to be the minde of Athanasius, p. 189Hilarie, Ierome, and Anselmus, on the twelft of Matthew, Videtur tamen temperanda, (saieth hee) id est, irremissibile esse ordinarie & ut plarimum: that is, But their speach would bee tempered, to wit, that this Sinne is ordinarilie irrimissible, and for the most part. Which is both contrarie to the wordes of those Fathers, as also contrarie to the verie absolute speach of Christ;Bell. l. 4. de panit. c. 13. sect. Resp. and last of all, crosseth his owne Rule, saying, Non oportet restringere, quod Deus amplum esse voluit: that is, We must not make a restriction of those words, which God will hauehave to bee absolutelie taken.

The like Example we hauehave also, in qualifying of Sainct Bernard's wordes, which wee adduce against popish Merites, out of his 310 Epistle: where-in hee declareth, that his whole life, even to the verie last period there-of, which hee calleth Calcaneum, was al-to-gether destitute of Merites. But how aunswereth Bellarmine, and qualifieth, or p. 190tempereth hee this Speach? Perhaps (saieth hee) hee spake this humbly, but not truely.Bell. lib. 5. de Iustif. c. 6. sect. ad alia. Which sense against sense, Bernard him-selfe else-where pithilie over-throweth, saying, When ye hauehave done all things that are commanded, say, that yee are vnprofitable Servantes. But thou wilt say,Bern. ser. de tripl. custodi…. (saieth Bernard) that hee willed vsus to say so, for Humilities sake. Yes, indeede. But willed he thee to say that, against the Trueth? No.

3. How they fraudfullie, in their Aunsweres to the Fathers, disjoynt thinges, not to bee disjoyned; and conjoyne thinges, that are not conjoyned.

AN Example of the first, wee hauehave in Bellarmine, Bell lib. 4. de Euch. c. 16.who intreating of the lawfull Minister of the Eucharist, hee citeth Epiphanius, to proue, that Christ gaue no power, even to the Virgine Marie, to celebrate a Sacrament. But when the p. 191same Father is cited by vsus, against baptizing by Women; showing also, out of Epiphanius, That the Virgine Marie was never permitted by Christ, nor his Apostles, anie way to baptize;Bell. lib. 1. de Bapt. c. 7. sect. Quario. Bellarmine aunswereth, Loquitur (saieth hee) de publico ministerio baptismi: that is, Epiphanius speaketh onlie of the publicke Ministerie of Baptisme. Where-as by disjoyning the publicke ministration of Baptisme, from the private ministration, hee may see, that the verie like answere might bee made vntounto him-selfe, That Women are not excluded from celebrating the Communion in private; but that they are debarred onelie from the publicke ministration of the same. And so his Conclusion out of Epiphanius, concerning the lawfull Minister of the Eucharist, shall bee quite over-throwne.

An Example of the seconde, which is a fraudfull Conjunction of diverse Speaches, which are of diverse matters, as if they were one, p. 192we hauehave like-wise in Bellarmine, Bell. lib. 2. de … c. 35.who for the defence of the receiving of young Nunnes, not onelie against God's word,2. Tim. 5 9.11. but also against their owne pope's Epistle, he alleadgeth, that Gregorie speaketh onelie of the Abbatesse,Greg. l. 3. Epist. 11. and no-wise of the age of Nunnes: VVhere-as, both the Title, and the Epistle it selfe, showeth, that hee speaketh, both of the Abbatesse in the generall, Ne sit Iuvencula, that is, That shee bee not a young woman;1. Tim. 3.6.1 Tim 3:6 as Paul speaketh of a Bishop, That hee be not a young Scholler: and of the Nunnes which are to bee vailed in particular, Ne fiat earum velamen, (saieth hee) ante annum sexagesimum: that is, Let them not bee vailed, before they be three-score yeares of age.

4. How they answere the Fathers, alleadging their speaches to be hyperbolicke, when they are no-wise so.

EXamples of this, like-wise, Bellarmine affordeth vsus, who when p. 193Chrysostome's speach is adduced,Bell. lib. 2 de verboc. vlt. §. Resp. exhor…ing secular men, to get Bibles to them-selues: and if they could not get more, to get the New Testament: hee answereth, That Chrysostome's speach, is an Hyperbolicke forme of speach; and not that hee would hauehave all to doe so, as hee by word exhorted them.

And againe, when hee is opposed against their Private Masse, saying, That it is better, not to bee present at the Sacrament, or at that (cōmemoratiue) Sacrifice of Christs bodie, than to be present, & yet not to communicate:Bell. lib. 1. de missa. c. 10. §. Resp. Bellarmine ▪ heerevnto answereth; I say, that Chrysostome spake this (sayeth hee) hyperbolicallie, as he doeth-sundrie other thinges. Now, by his owne definition, of an hyperbolicke speach, let vsus see then, howe sillie a Shift hee vseth, for fraudfull Evasion. An hyperbolicke speach (saieth hee) requireth,Bell. l. …, dep…nit. cap. 10. §. qu…d. that truelie some-what be in a thing, altho not in so excellent a manner, as the wordes signifie: p. 194other-wise, it should not bee an Hyperbole, but a Lie: neither should a speach bee there-by so much adorned, as al-to-gether spoiled. Now, let anie applie this, to the fore-said Testimonies, and they shall clearlie see, that in them there is no hyberbole.

5. How they vrge such Answeres to Antiquitie agaynst vsus, which they will not (as they ought) justlie accept of vsus.

TWo diverse Examples here-of, wee hauehave like-wise furnished vntounto vsus, Bell. lib. 4. de E…h. c. 10. Bell lib. 1. de miss…. c. 18.by our fore-said Bellarmine; who for sundrie Pageates of the Masse, bringeth, as the greatest Antiquitie, Sainct Iames Lyturgie: but when the wordes of that Lyturgie, saying, long after the words, Ho… est Corpus Meu… ; those wordes of Prayer, Fiat hic Pa…is Corpus Christi, are adduced, to show, that after the words of Consecration, Bread still remained:Bell. lib. 4. de Euch. c. 13. §. …. then Bellarmine rejecteth p. 195Sainct Iames Lyturgie, vponupon this reason, Nam non omnia quae in Lyturgia habentur (saieth hee) dep…ompta sunt ex Domini exemplo aut praecepto, constat enim multa esse addita ab aliis, &c. that is, For all things that are contained in that Lyturgie, are not taken out of the Lord's Example, or Cōmandement: for it is evident, that manie thinges were added, or patched to, by others. Therefore the Grecians (saith Bellarmine) should proue by some Testimonie, (which they are not able to doe) that those wordes did flow from the wordes, or else from the fact of CHRIST. VVhichWhich Reason given by Bellarmine against the Grecians, (who with vsus denye Consecration to be by those wordes recited, Hoc est Corpus meum) is a most valide Reason, furnished by him, vntounto vsus, VVhy we doe, and should, reject all thinges in the Masse, which doeth not flowe, either from the wordes, or fact of our Saviour, but are mens Inventions, added to, or altring that holie Institution.

p. 196Like-wise, to proue that Capernaitish forme of Christ's presence, and eating in the Sacrament,… lib. 2. de Eu…. c. 7. Bellarmine adduceth Tertullian, saying, Albe-it hee was a Montanist in his latter dayes, yet hee was reprehended by none of the Auncientes in this, That ever hee erred, concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Bodie.Bell l. 5. de gra. c. 26. §. At. And againe, else-where hee saieth, It is sure (saieth hee) that hee erred not in this, because no Author counteth this amongst Tortullian's Errours. And yet, when wee produce Tertullian, against Popish Indulgences, and other pointes of Poperie,Bell. l. 1. de indulg. cap. 3. §. …. Bellarmine rejecteth him, as hereticall, altho his owne wordes may stop his mouth. And wee may say even so vntounto him, That al-be-it hee was a Montanist in his latter age, yet hee was never reprehended by anie of the Ancients in this, That ever hee erred in the matter of Indulgences, &c. and no Author counted ever this amongst Tertullian's Errours.

p. 197Thus vse they diverse Weights in the Bag, which is Abhomination: they claime, and disclaime, for craftie Seduction, against all Civill Honestie, Setled Constancie, Christian Integritie, Reasons Rule, Conscience Regiment, or any way equitable Indifferencie.

Neither is there anie, but may see, that wee yeelding vntounto them, the Fathers to bee onelie Expounders of Scripture, and admitting their Writs to decide all Controversies; yet are wee not with them at anie nearer point, while as they will bee such Expounders of the Fathers againe, making their Exposition often times quite contrarie to the Text, and (as Pharaoh's leane Kye did to the farte) the one (as hath beene showne) to eate vp the other.

p. 1986. How they answere vsus, to some Fathers; impudentlie denying the cleare words which are in then Writs.

HOw peart and perverse they are, in this their last mentioned, and most vnthristie Shift, let this one Example, in place of manie, restifie. VVhen Chemnitius, out of Athanasius, A…han. l. 1. contra gente… initio.bringes this Testimonie, for perfectiō of Scripture, Safficiūt sacrae ac divinit…s inspiratae Scripturae ad OMNEM instructionem veritatis; that is, The Holie and Divine inspired Sc…iptures, are sufficient for ALL instruction of Trueth,Bell. lib. 4. de v…rb…. c. 11. §. Presert quarto. Bellarmine denyeth, that the word Omnem, or ALL, is in Athanasius: affirming yet more impudentlie, that Chemnitius added this worde (where-in the whole pith of the Testimonie consisteth) to Athanasius, of his owne head. The contrarie where-of, may bee seene in all olde Impressions of that Father, where-of I hauehave one beside mee, printed at Paris, by Iohn Petit, Anno 1520, or anie later, over p. 199which the seaming Fire of the Expu…gatorie Index hath not passed, hither-to.